Product Description

Ulysses, one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century, has had a profound influence on modern fiction. In a series of episodes covering the course of a single day, 16 June 1904, the novel traces the movements of Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus through the streets of Dublin. Each episode has its own literary style, and the epic journey of Odysseus is only one of many correspondencies that add layers of meaning to the text. Ulysses has been the subject of controversy since copies of the first English edition were burned by the New York Post Office Authorities. Today critical interest centres on the authority of the text, and this edition, complete with an invaluable Introduction, notes, and appendices, republishes for the first time, without interference, the original 1922 text.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13137 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 980 pages

Customer Reviews

Very difficult, absolutely charming.
Take every single page as a challenge, for no prior reading will help you understand all the possible philosophical, cultural and religious meanings conveyed by this masterpiece. It is recommended if one wants to understand the author's relationship with his country. While reading it you feel like if someone had written down what comes to your mind as you're walking in the street.It's a must if one aims at understanding the role played by the Modern novel in the Western culture.Perfect if you loved "La coscienza di Zeno" by I. Svevo.

best edition of Ulysses available
Except for the type size (which is small) and the margin size (these are also a little on the small side), this is, I believe, the best edition of Ulysses available today. Yes, it has errors in it--as do all the editions of the novel ever published, including Gabler's--but it has an historical identity; it's a particular edition, with errata and corrections that allow readers to see at least some of the ways that error plays into the transmission of this text.
And the textual apparatus--notes, introduction, stemma of published versions--is by far the best out there: Jeri Johnson strikes the perfect balance between what readers need to know in her notes and introduction. Her notes are a bit more interpretive, and thereby more useful, that Gifford's; the introduction is a model of scholarship and lucidity.
You'll need some help from the Ulysses Pagefinder (online, Split Pea Press) to negotiate easily between Gifford and other contemporary guides to the novel and this text, but I think you'll find it worthwhile. And if you're using it in a class, your students will be able to carry around only this one book, rather that Gabler + Gifford + some other crib or gloss.
Do check type size, though, particularly if you're, um, over 45 or so . . .